Non-Prayer Poem by Raj Dronamraju

I bear a message no one wants to hear
That moderation is good and a chaste appreciation is desirable and beautiful

Please don't suffer in the shadows of another's experience
To look for anything of consequence in their personal details

I dislike your culture and your culture makes me hate your gender
I work at a low paying job so I am free
I live below my means so I am free
And by maintaining this separate status
I am able live outside this prison

When they want to try to sell my original message
They'll cut it up into unrecognizable pieces
Nothing at all remaining from what was originally brought down from the mountaintop

I rubbed my eyes but forgot there were astringent chemicals on my fingers
My eyes grew painful
Obscuring my message, allowing others to quickly forget it

My message is bloodshot
My visions has cataracts
But that doesn't stop me from tending this philosophy like a garden
Hopefully, someone else will harvest from it one day